THE DAY AFTER THE FINAL DAY

(The title sounds like the intro to some post apocalyptic movie.)

Today I went back to school with a shit ton of zeal, ready to get my talk on. While a few kids had even forgotten that I wasn't talking for that two weeks, most people greeted me with anticipation, asking "CAN YOU TALK, CAN YOU TALK?" I screwed with them a little to, shaking my head and motioning to my mouth. They'd groan, then I'd be like,
"NAH! Just kidding."
Some reactions to me talking were
"Oh. I didn't notice you weren't talking before" (:'D)
"Wait, aren't you not supposed to be talking?! Shame on you!"
"OH MY GOD SHELBY YOU'RE TALKING."
"Oh? Did you finish two weeks already? I'm going to miss silent you."
"Oh my god. Your voice sounds so weird! I missed it. Say more words please."

I felt weird talking again, and I would often stammer or have difficulty gauging the volume my voice was at. I took full advantage of the weeks being over though and talked up a storm. I also felt less awkward when walking with friends, I was able to contribute ideas to conversations, crack jokes, and exercise my vocal chords like a good teenager should.

In a way, I sort of missed not talking though, I wasn't called on in class, yelled at for being disruptive, and I had to answer everyone who spoke to me, even if I didn't want to. Not talking definately has its ups and downs, although ultimately, I feel the that I have the same level of self esteem when i'm talking as when i'm not talking.
Maybe i'll do this again for fun some time, til then, thats the end of this blog. Hope y'all enjoyed it.

SLIP UPS: Millions.

THE FINAL DAY

Today was the final day, and I'm sad to see it go by. I actually have learned a lot from trying this out, and I'm glad I did it. It had its ups and downs, mostly ups im proud to say though. I'm surprised how easy I coasted along with this. Everyone told me they were really impressed with my effort, but to anyone reading this, I strongly encourage you to try this. It teaches you that constantly communicating with others, (even if its fun), is not always the best choice. Its good to sit down, and be silent for a week, and watch how others interact with each other. It may be awkward explaining your actions occasionally, but that's reveled to be such a minor issue.

Hahaha, some unusual things I noticed on my final day was that I'd forgotten I could talk to teachers. It happened three times, I motioned for a pen and paper when talking to a a teacher, then said outloud "Wait, ahaha, I'm allowed to talk to you, wtf am I doing?"

This was my final day to not talk, but I will blog once more, so I can properly contrast the talking me, and the non talking me.
I'm excited to go to school and speak with everyone again, hope you all missed my lovely voice!

Slip ups: 2-3

LOL I DUNNO WAT DAY I'M ON

Today was another uneventful day of not talking. Its getting really easy now, I didn't slip up a single time today, which was fabulous. Since the weekend had passed though, everyone thought I was done with the whole not talking thing, and I would go up to them, (this happened like 5 times.), and they'd be like, "HOW WAS YOU'RE WEEKEND?" And I'd say, "..." and make a thumbs up. They were all like "I can't believe you're still doing that."
Felt good to know though that I hadn't given up, even if it isn't the most challening thing to do.
To be honest though, I kinda like doing this. Since I can't talk during the week, my friends seem more excited to see me on the weekend, and it makes me go out more on the weekend. Hehehe, maybe I should just do this for the rest of the year.
Its still frustrating when I need something that doesn't have a simple hand gesture for. I tried to ask someone for a piece of paper, and they looked at me really funny, and I couldn't explain what I wanted, so I just kinda sat there awkwardly.

Tomorrows my last day- I'm going to enjoy it XD.

SLIP UPS: 0!

DAY 6

The end draws nears, I've got less than a week left, my friends. I think i'm going to blog the day after I start talking again too though, in order to properly contrast what its like.

Today was a terrible day for not talking. I was constantly harassed by my friends who would not stop touching me and trying to undo the laces in my shoes. As stupid as this sounds, it was irritating, because if I tried to reach into my backpack to grab a pen and paper to tell them politely to "GTFO", they would've untied my shoes.
So instead I just made angry noises, and tried to get them to leave me alone. i'm 100% sure it would've worked if I'd been able to talk properly to them.

But no.
My facial expressions have gotten extremely ridiculous over the course of this experiment, I feel bad not making people laugh with my words, so I decide to make silly faces at people in order to make them laugh.
Usually it works. Guess you don't always need words to make people happy, just stupid looking body language and contorted faces.
But words are nice! I miss loudly exclaiming obnoxious remarks in class that made me look like an ass. Thats just who I am.
:U I'm ready to start talking again, this is getting too easy, boring, and I really feel like talking.

slip ups:2-3, not bad.

Day 5

(technically i'm on day 7... not sure what happened with the title. ah well.)

one more week and i'm done!
I've had alot of fun with this, and I don't feel awkward anymore. I'm glad I chose not talking, and I would recommend everyone to try it for just a week.
I've decided to make a list of pros and cons as to why anyone would choose to not talk.

PROS

• You don't have to explain shit to people like you normally do. You don't have to answer other peoples annoying questions about classwork, your appearance, about jokes you make, etc etc
• You don't have to make an effort to communicate and articulate words, which is actually a really nice weight off your shoulders. I never realized how unnecessary constant talking was. 
• People like it when you listen to them, and when you can't talk, you're forced to listen. You learn things about people if you're not constantly running your mouth off like I normally do.
• You don't have to worry about slipping up when you speak.
• You don't have to worry about irritating people by being too loud (I'm sure my laugh has irritated a lot of people still though, bahaha.)

CONS

• You can't make people laugh very well
• If you have to communicate an idea, its a bitch and a half to get out a piece of paper and pencil.
• Its no good to have serious conversations over a piece of paper, texting, or chatting through the internet.
• Talking makes your throat feel nice. Its as simple as that.
• People sometimes are silent when you're alone with them, which can be awkward.
• If you disagree with something, you can't really express it.

Either way, I definitely look forward to whatever the next week brings, and I also sort of look forward to talking again.

Day four

Today was certainly a fun day- its nice to know I can still have fun even when not talking.
It was actually pretty easy today, i'm getting really used to this, and people have certainly gotten more comfortable with having me around even though I say nothing.
Today, I was asked, "What do you do if you're angry with someone?"
I thought about it for a bit, and thought, well gee, i'm glad that hasn't happened yet, because i'd get pretty damn frusterated, and not really know what to do. If you're already not talking, its hard to give someone the cold shoulder, and even harder to vocalize your anger. So i'm glad its been a pretty mellow few days.

People don't try to get me to talk as a joke anymore, but they still laugh at me when I slip up, but thats fine, its to be expected.






I feel like I could actually do this all year, as long as it went with my normal conditions (Only on school grounds, I can talk to teachers, I can laugh.) I'd still rather not, because believe it or not, I like talking!


Slip ups: 3
I literally shouted in class "I HATE THE WAY BRITISH PEOPLE TALK!"
:( Everyone stared and laughed. kinda awkward. ah well.

Day 3

Much easier to do today than yesterday, I didn't feel as awkward doing it, and I'm starting to get used to just listening to people. Group projects are a bitch and a half to do though.
People still think its fun to try to get me to talk.
A friend of mine commented on how he thinks i'm finding my comfort zone in not talking, and that it seems like its coming naturally to me now. I kinda agree. Its kind of fun.
SLIP UPS: 2 (No one caught me though, bahaa.)